Trading Letang -REP-

[Doug Glatt]

Why can't you just put Matt Murray on the farm; he's way under 150 GP.

Besides, you have a win now team. Plus monster youth. Why would you want to move Letang? Makes no sense to me. With the talent you have I'd have no issue riding him into the ground. The offers you are getting are silly.

Yes this has been my default option all along. Will just send Murray down and trade away a prospect for a pick to make room for him. However, injuries really killed my postseason and I wouldnt mind shoring that up by removing my worst Band-Aid Boy from the equation. So I am open-minded if the right offer comes in.

[Doug Glatt]

Talks are back on. Let me run an idea by you guys.

My Letang and Colin White for his Blake Wheeler and Thomas Chabot. Still might try to work his #5 overall pick into it somehow, but would like to get some opinions on the 4-player swap first. Thanks.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Thats not bad.

[BreadManPanarin]

Much better.

Try to get the #5 thrown in there too if possible, but I'd have no problem pulling the trigger on the deal without the pick if you don't want to deal with Letang anymore.

[lucafen4]

Seeing as this started with just the #5 pick... I like. I also just like it in general. Getting Wheeler is a solid return. I like Chabot's ceiling a lot better than White, who I think in 5 years will be replaceable by handfuls of players, he'll blend in to middle of the pack player. Chabot may as well, but based on his position and ceiling, I like.

maybe flip 8 & 5 picks? or a 2nd rounder for 5?

[Doug Glatt]

Seeing as this started with just the #5 pick... I like. I also just like it in general. Getting Wheeler is a solid return. I like Chabot's ceiling a lot better than White, who I think in 5 years will be replaceable by handfuls of players, he'll blend in to middle of the pack player. Chabot may as well, but based on his position and ceiling, I like.

maybe flip 8 & 5 picks? or a 2nd rounder for 5?

I like your angle here luc. Good stuff as always. The pick swap is a good plan. I traded away my 2nd and 3rd round picks, I always do, in order to get 2 picks in the first round. Not sure there is a big difference in pick 5 vs. 8 in this draft class. Might need to see the entry draft first. Owen Tippett and Michael Rasmussen are the two guys I would really like to get, after I take Hischier at #2. I would most likely be able to get Tippett at 5, but possibly at 8 as well. Rasmussen is falling in the rankings due to his injury and thats fine with me.

Letang<--->Wheeler
White<--->Chabot
Pick #8<--->Pick #5

Thats starting to look like a hockey trade there.

[als_revenge]

Given how long it's been since you've had any action on Letang, the deal seems reasonable (with or without the pick swap).

in a 10 team, keep 26 - hard to believe burakovsky isn't a keeper.

[Doug Glatt]

Given how long it's been since you've had any action on Letang, the deal seems reasonable (with or without the pick swap).

in a 10 team, keep 26 - hard to believe burakovsky isn't a keeper.

On the other 9 teams in the league he is a keeper. But my team is so stacked he ends up as my 27th player. I will find some sort of deal to open a spot and allow me to keep him. The Letang for a pick deal was originally conceived for just that purpose.

[Doug Glatt]

He just offered me Wheeler for my Drouin, straight up. You're really going to have to convince me not to take this. Wheeler is a perennial top 5 RW in our setup. Drouin is a guy with some great potential who would pretty much have to contend for the scoring title to be close with Wheeler because of the discrepancy in peripheral scoring. A guy like Wheeler who puts up his consistenly high G/A numbers plus 250 SOG, 100 hits, 50 blocks and 50 penalty minutes is solid gold in my format. I can pull the trigger on this, then go back in a few days later and see what I can extract for Letang again.

[Doug Glatt]

OK, the Wheeler-Drouin trade is in the books and we are back to talking about Letang.

The new framework is my Letang for his 2017 Round 1 prospect draft pick (#5), 2018 Round 1 prospect pick (should come in around 3-6) and Thomas Chabot. I will probably throw-in some minor assets that would probably be dropped anyway. Thoughts?

[BreadManPanarin]

You took a step forward in the win-now effort with the wheeler for drouin trade. Don't follow it up by taking two steps back trading letang for virtually nothing in the short term...

You gotta get a very solid win now piece back for letang or keep letang imo.

[Doug Glatt]

You took a step forward in the win-now effort with the wheeler for drouin trade. Don't follow it up by taking two steps back trading letang for virtually nothing in the short term...

You gotta get a very solid win now piece back for letang or keep letang imo.

Not sure I agree with your analysis but it is certainly welcome. So, here is his roster's useful players, what is your suggestion?

C--Stepan Kadri Stastny Zibanejad Spezza Fisher
LW--Steen JVR Point (Drouin)
RW--Pavelski Kessel Neal
D--Yandle Green Gudas Zaitsev Petry Spurgeon
G--Rask Ward Raanta

[BreadManPanarin]

Not sure I agree with your analysis but it is certainly welcome. So, here is his roster's useful players, what is your suggestion?

C--Stepan Kadri Stastny Zibanejad Spezza Fisher
LW--Steen JVR Point (Drouin)
RW--Pavelski Kessel Neal
D--Yandle Green Gudas Zaitsev Petry Spurgeon
G--Rask Ward Raanta

I would want to do something centered around Letang for Pavelski or Kessel, or JVR and the #5 maybe.

Failing that I would just keep letang or find a different trade partner if possible.

[als_revenge]

What kind of value does Burakovsky hold? (I know you can keep him if you move Letang for prospects). I'm just trying to see if it makes more sense to move Letang, or Burakovsky...

Generally, I wouldn't advise taking a step back, but man is your team stacked...

[Doug Glatt]

OK a couple of things. I like a lot of these comments, its a great exchange that really fleshes out the complexity of the issues surrounding Letang vis-a-vis his trade value.

1. I dont want to jinx the guy here, but I should put this out there: I havent yet emphasized the fact that I am legitimately concerned that the next big hit is "au revoir and go have a seat in the skybox with Chris Pronger. You two will have much to discuss. But what an amazing pairing you two will be at those charity all-star legends games next year." It's one serious injury after another with him and he's at 30. Wont need to play for the $$ since his monster contract is insured.

2. Have you looked closely at my D corps? Letang is probably 3rd best behind EK and Hedman who is a multi-cat deity. Josi, OEL Doughty, Schultz filling out the top 6, all younger than Letang. Parayko just passed farm limits so I need to use one of my 26 spots to keep him around. I really dont think my D corps is going to have a big dropoff here at all. And if I add Chabot to Sergachev and Montour on my farm its kind of a bright near future, n'est pas? Not saying any of those three ever become Letang but its likely that all 3 of them are going to be strong fantasy assets that I can play for the next 12-15 years if I am so inclined. Plus I am getting two top 5 picks, and I wont be humble and admit I am pretty damn good at drafting.

Nonetheless, this is a really tough call. There is a strong case to be made for keeping him and just dealing with the injuries and enjoying the ride when he does go on epic runs when he is healthy. On the other hand, injuries wrecked me in the playoffs this year and I have a sense that i need to limit my injury liabilities in order to prevent any repeats of this year's postseason debacle.